Supposed to write a paper on something new and interesting that is happening in the automotive field specifically about engines. Can be 4cycle, 2cycle, atkinson cycle, sterling cycle, otto cycle, anything as long as its used to propel a vehicle.

I need some ideas as to what i can write about? For an example he did a powerpoint presentation on top fuel dragsters and some stats about their engines and stuff, actually kind of interesting. Did you know a top fuel dragster :

under full throttle a dragster uses 1 gallon of nitromethane per second.

The current running through the spark plugs is like 45 amps. Like having a small arc welder in each cylinder.

The crankshaft produces so much torque that it actually twists (up to 20 degrees at the rear) so much they have to grind a custom cam to make up for the twist.

The supercharger takes more horsepower to drive than a stock hemi engine makes.

One dragsters 500 CI engine makes more HP than the first 8 rows at the daytona 500 combined.

From a standing start a dragster reaches over 300 MPH before you can finish reading this sentance.

Neat stuff, but i need an idea of what i can write on?

 

The big topic right now is the alternative fuel engines. Like Biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen, etc. You should be able to find a lot on info. on those topics.

 

Something cool where you can learn as you research and write-Wenkles rotary engines. Like in the mazda rx-7 and new rx-8. They're pretty interesting engines. Some engineers consider them to be three cycle engines.

You could do a comparison on how the deisel compares to the gasser nowadays and how the deisel is gaining popularity.

Nuclear engines-military equipment and powerplants.

But if you really want to impress them do a report on the FLUX CAPACITOR

 

Would this site help for your paper?

http://www.keveney.com/Engines.html

 

how about the 'on star ' whatever its called and how your car tells them it needs to go to the shop and they are able to tell you........very interesting very much indeed

 

<TABLE class=tborder cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=4 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR title="Post 4472157" vAlign=top><TD class=alt1 align=middle width=125>sierraben</TD><TD class=alt2>Would this site help for your paper?

http://www.keveney.com/Engines.html</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Great site man, good info.

<TABLE class=tborder cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=4 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR title="Post 4472252" vAlign=top><TD class=alt1 align=middle width=125>thefarelaneman</TD><TD class=alt2>how about the 'on star ' whatever its called and how your car tells them it needs to go to the shop and they are able to tell you........very interesting very much indeed</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
If they can unlock your car and tell you exactly where you are in the world, wouldn't that make them able to dissable your vehicle? And can they listen in on whats goin on in the car w/o you knowing? 2 things i'd like to know about.

 

Well THEY CAN TRACK YOU with it now if they wanted to. A related question I have is about the TV cable. The newer fiber optic cables have the ability to send and receive many signals at the same time.Maybe my TV has a hidden camera in it watching me,,,,maybe not,but some of these low end motels may have an illegal camera in their TVs and you wouldnt know it

 

Next time you're in a low end motel, give 'em a show!

Peter94, does it have to mechanical in nature? I read in the WSJ that Nissan is building a plant in India along with Renault (for instance)

 

Have you thought about EV's (Al electric Vehicles) They're doing some wild things with them. This web site should help.www.eaaev.org/

 

Here's another site on an electric car.

This one is a high performance electric car. (0-60 in 4 sec.)

http://teslamotors.com/

 

There building billion dollar plant in N.M. albuquerque to start production on the Tesla
electric car,They want to build about 10000 of them starting in 2010.
Also there is a guy in france i believe who is with his son are trying to develope an
air powered car, and are working on how to make it a(if this is correct) a perpetual
motion car, will never have to stop and refuel.

 

Thanks for all of the good information. I wound up doing my paper on diesel engines. In particular an engine in one of our combo units when i was working for a water/wastewater utility in a nearby city. Actually the paper kind of trailed from the engine to the rest of the powertrain. It is actually a very interesting unit. Those web sites everyone posted are pretty sweet. I'll be writing them down to use in the future, thanks alot!